2009 Jean Walsh Scholarship

Stephanie Sherry Rosenberger, of Indiana, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2009 Women’s Business Network Jean Walsh Scholarship Award. She will be applying this scholarship grant to further her own business growth and development through the purchase of an advanced software system that will allow her to create eye catching marketing pieces to help a broader customer
range.

Stephanie is the President of Big Girl Marketing, a full service marketing firm in Indiana. She helps local businesses by partnering with them to create strategic marketing plans and help them achieve positive revenue growth . Stephanie looks forward to using the new software to improve the marketing of her Indiana Chapter and to assist the other members in their own businesses. She is committed to helping small businesses in Indiana grow in these challenging times.

A newlywed, she is married to Josh Rosenberger and is parent to a spoiled bulldog, Newman. Actively involved in Indiana University of PA, Stephanie is a Board member of IUP OnStage, Speaker for Public Relation classes at IUP, Career Fair speaker for IUP Journalism Department, and volunteer for Lifesteps.

The Women’s Business Network has been awarding this scholarship grant annually at their Holiday Breakfast each December since 1994 in honor of Jean M. Walsh who died of cancer. The scholarship commemorates the life of a woman who was instrumental in the establishment and development of the organization.

WBN Success Stories

In February 1990, I was selling business checks and forms for a national company and my boss suggested I join a networking organization. Shortly after the suggestion, a woman client phoned and asked me to join a new organization just getting started called Women’s Business Network. They had one chapter and about fifteen members. I thought that 8 AM in Robinson Township (a 45 minute commute) was a bit early and I would go to one meeting and bow out… eighteen years later, I have missed very few meetings.

While getting business was the criteria for joining, business is not what has kept me an active member for all of these years. I have formed many important friendships. Many personal and business services that I utilize, from my dentist and eye doctor to financial planner, are from WBN. Being a member of WBN is like having a “friend” in every type of business whom you can call and ask questions without feeling foolish or having to make an appointment just to get an answer. Whatever question I have had, there is someone in WBN I can phone who either knows the answer or who knows someone who knows the answer. I carry my WBN Directory with me wherever I go….just in case I need to phone someone.

I have done things I never dreamed I would do… going on two cruises (discounted, of course). One of the cruises was with another WBN friend for “girls only” to celebrate a mutually important milestone birthday!

Emotional support in times of trouble has been an extremely important factor. For a period of time I felt like the biblical character Job (who met with so much hardship) had nothing on me, but my WBN friends and supporters saw me through the worst of times and cheered me on through the best of times.

I have received a tremendous education over the years not only from the informative table topics and business presentations, but also from knowing and meeting such a diverse group of helpful women. This “education” helps me to supply better business services to my clients and makes me a more valuable resource to them.

A lifelong friend started a business in Fort Wayne, Indiana. When we discussed her business she would confide in me that she could only wish that there were an organization like WBN where she lived. I saw through her eyes what it was like to have no support, no confidants, no quick answers to questions, and no source for getting business when you are just starting.

I now own a service business that requires a lot of trust on the part of my clients. Advertising is most often by word of mouth. In 2005, 45% of my business was from WBN referrals and 25% from previous customers… who may have been WBN referrals. These referrals come from many members outside of my chapter.

The best advice to new members is to go to every event. Be a participator, join committees, be the Chapter Chairperson, the Chapter Rep, run for the Board of Directors. I have learned so much from volunteering to help with things… leadership from being a Board member for 4 years, getting group cooperation from being a committee chairperson, event planning, dealing with government bureaucracy from completing the first application for the not-for-profit status, organization and so much more. My first volunteer effort at WBN was to be on the committee that chose the WBN logo. I guess we did a good job, the logo has not changed in 18 years.

If the only thing you do is to give your one minute self-marketing at your chapter meetings and wonder why you are not getting anything out of “networking,” you are missing the boat! Be sure when you do your one minute self-marketing if your business has “visual” things that you do “show and tell” at every meeting. Offer a tidbit of “advice” if your business is a service business. Before long, the other chapter members will think of you as an “expert” in your field. Tell your chapter members what type of customer would make a good referral for your business. Be sure to pay attention in all of your conversations wherever you are to “listen” for someone who could use help from one of your chapter members. Networking is give and take!